


Please don't ask him about any of his agendas

by cpt_winniethepooh



Series: when i look at him [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M, Meta, Misconceptions, POV Pepper Potts, Pepper Potts Is a Good Bro, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Protective Steve Rogers, Social Justice, Social Justice Warrior Steve Rogers, The Avengers Are Good Bros, agressively progressive steve rogers, pepper potts is a very good CEO
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-08
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2019-05-19 20:38:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14880812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cpt_winniethepooh/pseuds/cpt_winniethepooh
Summary: Pepper has never imagined she'd have to deal with the PR nightmare that is Steve Rogers, social justice warrior. Lucky for her, Bucky can help.Aka the Pepper addition to the Avengers realizing how Steve-without-Bucky differs from Steve-with-Bucky (works as a standalone too, though).





	Please don't ask him about any of his agendas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Menatiera](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Menatiera/gifts).



> The title is a play on the many fanart featuring Steve with a shirt about one of his agendas. Examples are [this ](http://stuckyfanart.tumblr.com/post/174643485891/beardysteve-go-on-he-dares-you-happy-pride)and [this](http://bluandorange.tumblr.com/post/145047427730/im-sick-and-cant-sleep-have-some-bitter-drawings). 
> 
> Huge thanks to [@menatiera](http://menatiera.tumblr.com) for the encouragement! 

A CEO needs to excel in, first and foremost, two things: management and making good decisions. One may bundle them up as one, though, which is fine; either way it means that if you know how to choose the right people for the right tasks, then trust their expertise when you have to make a call, you're going to make a good CEO.

An unidentified percentage of these skills Pepper has always possessed; she then learned more in business administration and management. Most valuable were, however, the years with Tony, when she had to manage Tony and half of the company with him, and yeah, when Tony named her his successor, that wasn't as big of a change as she feared it'd be. Even when she stepped in as the lead media relations exec for the Avengers was a walk in the park compared to what she had to do with Tony's party pictures a few years prior.

The Avengers are easy to portray in a good light, really. They save the Earth regularly and that kind of sells itself as it is; all Pepper needs to do is make sure the PR team focuses on photos and interviews where Clint isn't doing something stupidly embarrassing, Nat isn't as scary as an ex-assassin normally is, Bruce is calm and relaxed, Tony tones down his compensating mask of egoism just a notch, and Thor isn't freaking anybody out with his lack of knowledge about cultural norms. Captain Rogers is the easiest, because while his smile isn't always honest for the cameras, he is polite and authoritative without being either dumb or threatening. An extremely lucky combination from a media relations POV and one less thing for her to worry about, even if she wanted to strangle him for all the nasty things he said to Tony.

Until.

'What do you _mean_ by _constant need of supervision_ ,' Steve practically snarls on the screen.

Pepper has never seen anything like that from Steve. Well, not until a few days back, anyway - now it's becoming the norm and the Avengers usually watch his interviews on the common room TV with popcorn while she makes calls frantically to maybe have the chance of some damage control.

'He is neither a naughty child nor a criminal on parole to be _supervised_ ,' Steve goes on with increasing anger, and the man who pushed a camera into his face and asked about "preventive measures against the ex-Winter Soldier" is either going to retire to a bunch of monks and reconsider his previous life choices or cash in on the Evening News that, apparently, bought his footage.

Not that it's news anymore, exactly.

 

Steve returned with believed to be dead best friend Bucky Barnes about a year ago. Pepper hadn't met him at first, because at Tony's request JARVIS made sure she wasn't in the same room as Barnes for a good while. A solid call, though not for the reasons Tony took it: when she found out about him murdering Tony's parents she could've shot him on the spot. She was about sick and tired of Tony's childhood heroes ruining even more of Tony's already unstable life, thank you very much, and not at all afraid of the deadliest assassin of the previous century.

And then Barnes started reconstructing a part of Tony's broken heart, the part Howard shattered, with his soft praises and his ability to make Steve stop and look at who Tony really was. Maybe Barnes saw underneath Tony's mask because he himself wore one. The first time she met him he called her 'ma'am' with a self-assured bow and a smile she knew ladies used to fall for left and right. But his eyes gleamed with nervousness and returned to Steve constantly, like an old vinyl with a scratch and a track that started over and over again. Barnes was good at portraying himself as his older self to the world but they all wore masks, they all knew the tells.

Barnes brought Steve back to life, Nat said, and Pepper agreed, but she did not know what the price for that would be. For Barnes also brought Steve's anger to the surface, and the fury almost turned him _vicious_ \- a word she never would've thought possible to fit Captain America.

'Well, maybe someone with a restraining order against an ex-girlfriend shouldn't be allowed to make such judgments,' Steve definitely snarled on the screen, and Pepper closed her eyes.

Before Barnes, Steve wasn't easily riled up. With three short sentences he destroyed all of Tony's remaining self-esteem, yes, but Tony wrote that down as Loki's machination and she was inclined to believe him when no other incident happened. Steve remained cold-headed in the face of danger and someone the whole team could rely on. Even Natasha had only praises to tell about him, a truly unprecedented feat, and so the biggest concern on Pepper's list when it came to dealing with journalists was not to make Steve lie. She found even his inability to convincingly deceive charming.

She wishes those times back, now.

 

A paparazzi photo of Steve and Barnes appeared in the papers a few weeks ago: they stood compromisingly close, huddling together. They decided not to deny the rumors. They even decided to share that it was Bucky, and not much later that they had always loved each other - better take control of the narrative while they could, they said. She approved. She shouldn't have.

To call Steve overprotective when it comes to Barnes would be an understatement. He absolutely goes _livid_ when anybody so much as hints at not accepting that Barnes was a victim. His attacks become personal against certain news agencies or reporters, in as much as he criticizes lack of professionalism rather loudly and colorfully. He defends their relationship just as fiercely and unapologetically as he defends Barnes. To a few, he is endearing. To the majority he becomes obnoxious and the blame gets placed upon Barnes. If anything, that just escalates Steve further.

And it's not only about Barnes after a few weeks of this... this new Steve. It seems that now that he found his voice, he isn't shutting up again, and suddenly he's ranting against pollution, campaigning for vaccination, criticizing capitalism... it's a lot. It's definitely a lot. With Tony it was easier because the media got used to his antics from a very young age. The child genius of an inventor millionaire grew up to be a troublesome teen and then what many call an outright deviant adult, no shock there. Steve, on the other hand, took a 180 from the (in hindsight) almost malleable young man, and that is a hard pill to swallow for many.

 

Pepper has no idea how to manage this because Steve doesn't let himself be managed. At all. The best she can do is try to censor as much from the interviews as possible - a hard feat when some simply ambush Steve on the street and then upload everything to YouTube - and divert the attention toward other matters, mostly with the help of Tony. Not that anything can truly distract people from Captain America's Big Scandal.

She goes to the kitchen for a glass of water and Barnes follows her. 'I'm sorry about him,' he mumbles and nods towards the living room where Steve is still going ballistic on the screen.

She expertly doesn't drop her glass. Barnes walks like a cat when he doesn't have the energy to project his old self into his movements.

'It's all right,' she smiles at him, because unlike most people, she knows not to blame one person for another's decisions. 'It's not your fault.'

Barnes smiles. 'Funny, Steve keeps saying that too.'

'Well, it's true.'

'Yeah,' he allows, and there's a moment of pause. 'He still gives you a hard time, though.'

'Mostly to my team,' but she does sigh. 'I never imagined he'd be worse than Tony. From a PR perspective, I mean,' she adds just in case, although it's not like Barnes doesn't call Steve names regularly.

'From a lot of perspectives,' Barnes says with feeling, and she laughs. 'What, it's true. Tony at least built parachutes into his suit!'

That, Pepper is still thankful for. 'You're right. This side of his, I have no idea what to do with,' she says while nodding at the TV again.

Barnes nicks his head too. 'I'm honestly more surprised he hasn't been like this since he was defrosted,' he says with a slight frown that tells he knows _exactly_ why, and she blinks in surprise. ‘You couldn’t shut him up back then either.’

She hasn't considered that - that _this_ Steve is the normal Steve and not the other way around, but it makes sense. It's also kind of a horrifying thought.

'Oh God - how did he get admitted to the supersoldier program?'

Bucky's laugh is deep and rich, and she's glad to hear the improvement over the humorless little huffs he's favored a few months ago. 'Desperation and needs must, and also - you know how smaller things are "cute"? Well, Steve 90 pounds soaking wet but aggressively progressive was much less threatening than now. Like a... Chihuahua instead of a Rottweiler.'

She has to laugh at that too; she's seen some of the photos of Steve before the serum and yes, the image did resemble an angry Chihuahua, now that he mentions it. She always assumed the squinty eyes were because old photos weren't famous for artistry and not because he had the same fire in him, the same fire that enticed him to try joining the army, then to try and try again... in hindsight, it was foolish of her to think otherwise.

'I can try to talk to him, but I won't be able to put a muzzle on; never have,' Barnes goes on. 'The best I could do was to have his back when someone had enough and thought a punch to the mouth would shut 'im up.'

His offer warms her heart, and in general he reminds her of herself, oddly enough. She, too, had first-hand experience with loving someone drawn to danger and prone to self-destruction. But she doesn't want him to be dragged into the middle of the vicious triangle that is essentially her PR team, Steve, and the media - not any more than the media already dragged him there, at least.

'No, it's fine. I'll take care of it, don't worry.'

 

She thinks about his words some and then some more.

She had it all backwards; she believed the Twitter rants about the _horrible new ways of Captain America_ and she wanted Steve to calm down, just like the rest of the world said he should. Shame on her, really. In reality, Steve's always been like this, except for the two years when he was grieving the love of his life.

That, _that_ is an angle she can work with.

 

The next interview she organizes for Steve has a host in the know. Instead of asking about the scandalous relationship between an army officer and his subordinate, questioning Barnes's right for backpay or for being an Avenger, he wants to know how Steve feels now compared to how he's been without Barnes. He seems to have more energy, the host says; has it always been like this when he had Barnes? How about when Barnes was at the front and Steve at the USO tour?

Steve's definitely surprised, then thoughtful. 'Yes,' he says. 'The girls always made fun of me for just wanting to draw, even when we had leave.'

'And then you conquered half of Europe with him by your side again,' the host smiles, and Steve ducks his head.

'You make me seem all co-dependent when you put it like that,' but his protest is half-hearted at best.

Some newspapers will report this as Barnes's long-term bad influence on Steve, but the majority, she is confident, will have headlines equivalent to "Captain America's as besotted as an average 20-something". She ignores the bored groans of the team - they've heard enough of Steve waxing poetry about Bucky as it is -, goes to pour herself a congratulatory smoothie from the fridge, and makes a mental note to thank Barnes. Indirect though his influence on the current interview, she wouldn't have known how to deal with Steve – the _real_ Steve - without his insight.

**Author's Note:**

> I originally wrote this fic in  _February_. I just had a lot on my plate with graduating, and also, [my longfic, which you can read here ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14429967):) it's also about social justice warrior Steve and the differences between Steve and Cap.   
>     
> Please let me know what you thought; comments give me life! Feel free to come talk to me on [tumblr ](http://cpt-winniethepooh.tumblr.com/)too! 
> 
>  


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